Midseason shows will battle it out for survival

Most of the midseason TV shows you’re reading about right now won’t be on the air next year.

Only 32 percent of new shows last past their premiere season, according to The Futon Critic, an online television resource guide.

That means the shows debuting this midseason will be in a “Hunger Games”-style fight for their survival against other newcomers – and against returning favorites.

Here’s a look at the tributes from each district (or new shows from each major network, if you prefer) in what amounts to a televised battle to the death.

ABC

“Zero Hour,” 8 p.m. Thursdays beginning Feb. 14. After a myth-buster’s wife is abducted from her antique clock shop, he finds a map that could lead to cataclysmic results in one of his wife’s clock. He must then decipher its symbols in a race against the clock to save his wife and humanity.

“Red Widow,” 9 p.m. Sundays beginning March 3. A stay-at-home mom must navigate the Russian gangster underworld in San Francisco to keep her children safe and to repay a debt to an international crime boss that cost her husband his life.

“How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life),” 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays beginning April 1. A divorced mom moves back in with her unconventional parents with her daughter in tow.

CBS

“The Job,” 8 p.m. Fridays beginning Feb. 8. Contestants will compete for their dream jobs in elimination challenges in front of a panel of executives.

FOX

“The Following,” 9 p.m. Mondays beginning Jan. 21. Kevin Bacon stars as an FBI agent tracking a serial killer of women who’s built a social network of copycat killers in this thriller.

NBC

“1600 Penn,” new episode premiere 9:30 tonight. Life in the White House isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for the quirky First Family in this sitcom starring Bill Pullman, Jenna Elfman and Josh Gad (“The Book of Mormon”).

“Deception,” 10 p.m. Mondays (encore of premiere episode at 10 p.m. Saturday). A FBI agent secretly investigates the death of her former socialite best friend, the heir to a pharmaceutical empire.

“Do No Harm,” 10 p.m. Thursdays beginning Jan. 31. When a respected neurosurgeon’s sociopathic alternate personality, kept hidden by an experimental serum, is unleashed, it puts him and everyone he cares about at risk.

“Ready for Love,” 8 p.m. Sundays beginning March 31. In this “The Bachelor” meets “American Idol” reality show, women looking for love apply on Facebook to land one of three bachelors. Three matchmakers then search for ideal companions for each man in a competition culminated by the men choosing their final three women.

THE CW

Page 2 of 3 - “The Carrie Diaries,” 8 p.m. Mondays beginning Jan. 14. In this “Sex and the City” prequel of sorts, a 16-year-old Carrie Bradshaw moves to Manhattan after the death of her mother. It’s set in the 1980s.

“Cult,” 9 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Feb. 19. After his brother goes missing after a rant about the dark TV show “Cult,” journalist Jeff Sefton begins to investigate the dark happenings surrounding the show, centered on the cat-and-mouse game between a charismatic cult leader and an LAPD detective.

HELLO AGAIN

Anticipated shows returning to the airwaves this season.

“Cougar Town,” 10 p.m. Tuesdays, TBS. The cul-de-sac crew, which revolves around Courtney Cox character Julie Cobb, moves from ABC to TBS – but they’re still not happy about the title.

“Smash,” returns at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, NBC. The season two reboot of the musical drama viewers tuned into to hate (and tweet about) will feature a multi-episode arc featuring Jennifer Hudson as the “Bombshell” team tries to achieve its Broadway dreams.

“Game of Thrones,” March 31, HBO. The third season of the cult hit fantasy continues the story of the civil war between noble families to claim the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

LAST GOODBYE

Shows ending their run this year.

“Fringe,” two episode series finale 8 p.m. Jan. 18, Fox. The fifth and final season of the imaginative sci-fi show finds the Fringe team trying to save mankind in a dystopian future ruled by time-traveling Observers.

“Private Practice,” series finale Jan. 22, ABC. The show will conclude with the nuptials of Dr. Addison Montgomery and Jake Reilly.

“The Office,” series finale TBA, NBC. The final season should reveal who has been filming the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company office in Scranton for nine years. The finale is expected to air in May.

THREE CABLE PICKS

“Banshee,” 10 p.m. Fridays beginning Jan. 11, Cinemax . An ex-con and master thief assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Penn., where he continues his criminal activities while he’s hunted by a shadowy group of gangsters he betrayed years earlier. Filming took place in Gaston County and Charlotte over the summer and some local faces should pop up as extras.

Page 3 of 3 - “Bates Motel,” 10 p.m. Mondays beginning March 18, A&E. A contemporary prequel to the Alfred Hitchcock suspense film “Psycho” explores how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years and how his mother forged him into a serial killer. It features strong leads in Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”) and Freddie Highmore (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”).